​IMLS Grant "It Takes A Village"

Open Source Software Models of Collaboration & Sustainability

​The It Takes a Village project was funded in 2017 by the Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to bring together open source
programs serving cultural and scientific heritage to develop shared
sustainability strategies, and to provide our communities with the
information needed to assess and contribute to the sustainability of the
programs they depend on.

The core output of the project is a
Guidebook is designed to serve as a practical reference source to help
open source software (OSS) programs serving cultural and scientific
heritage organizations plan for long-term sustainability, ensuring that
commitment and resources will be available at levels sufficient for the
software to remain viable and effective as long as it is needed.

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Guidebook content was developed based on the outcomes of a survey and two-day forum held in Baltimore in the fall of 2017, during which representatives of over 25 OSS programs discussed project lifecycles, governance, financing, resources, community building, outreach and communications, and bumps in the road.

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services